Frontier Markets Fund hit by Iraq Oil Stocks

BlackRock Frontiers Investment Trust has said that the fund’s most significant detractors from performance were its Iraqi oil stocks.

In its Half-yearly Report, the fund commented:

“Although Kurdistan has started exporting oil through it’s pipeline to Turkey, the International Oil Companies (“IOCs”) are still not receiving payment for these exports which is putting pressure on their balance sheets, exacerbated by the fall in the oil price.”

The company holds shares in DNO and Genel Energy.

For the six months to 31 March 2015, the MSCI Frontier Markets Index fell by 15.2%, significantly underperforming the MSCI Emerging Markets Index which fell
by 2.4%. Against this backdrop the Trust’s NAV per share fell by 12.3%, outperforming the index by 2.9% and the share price fell by 19.0% (all calculations are in US dollar terms with income reinvested).